All 3 incumbents re-elected in Windsor-Essex, CBC projects

LATEST UPDATES:

• CBC News is projecting a Liberal minority government.
• CBC News is projecting an NDP win in Windsor West, a riding held by Brian Masse since 2002.
• Conservative Chris Lewis is projected to win a second term in Essex.
• Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk projected to win in Windsor–Tecumseh.

The three incumbent candidates in Windsor-Essex in southwestern Ontario — each from different parties — are heading back to Ottawa, CBC News projects.

CBC News is projecting a win by Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk after a nail-biter in Windsor–Tecumseh.

Kusmierczyk remained just 501 votes ahead of former NDP MP Cheryl Hardcastle as of 1:15 a.m. ET, with 243 out of 244 polls reporting.

However, Elections Canada has said local mail-in ballots will not be counted until Tuesday, which could affect the outcome in the riding. 

In 2019, Kusmiercyzk defeated Hardcastle by fewer than 650 votes.

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Meanwhile, Conservative Chris Lewis is projected to win in the riding of Essex. With 222 out of 255 polls reporting, Lewis had captured 41 per cent of the support.

Lewis cancelled a media availability due to "unforeseen circumstances of a personal nature," but issued a statement just after midnight.

"My goal is certainly our economic future, but another big priority is to do my part to end divisive politics and bring unity back to Essex," he said. "My commitment is to serve each and every one of you with the same passion and compassion as I did in my first term."

His ballot-mates included Tracey Ramsey, the NDP MP he defeated in 2019, and Liberal Audrey Festeryga, who also ran in 2019 and came in third place in that vote.

Ramsey had 32 per cent of support as of around 1 a.m. ET., while Festeryga received 15 per cent.

CBC News also projects NDP candidate Brian Masse has been elected to an eighth term.

For the second time, the Windsor West MP faced a challenge from Liberal Sandra Pupatello, a former provincial cabinet minister. 

With 195 out of 236 polls reporting, Masse had received 43 per cent of the support, compared with 29 per cent for Pupatello. Anthony Orlando, who ran under the Conservative banner, had 20 per cent of support.

Masse won his seat in the 2019 election with a lead of just around 2,000 votes over Pupatello.

In Chatham-Kent–Leamington, Conservative Dave Epp is also projected to win a second term. 

CBC News is projecting a Liberal minority government. Canadians headed to the polls for the third time since 2015. The length of the campaign, 36 days, is the shortest allowable by law.

More than 1 million special ballots

According to Elections Canada, special ballots cast locally, including mail-in ballots, will begin to be counted on Tuesday. So the final outcomes in tight races may not be known by the end of the night.

With an ongoing pandemic, far more people across the country have voted by mail. More than 1 million special ballots were requested across the country, compared with 50,000 in the previous federal vote.

More than 780,000 mail-in ballots were submitted, Elections Canada said on Monday. Spokesperson Rejean Grenier said it may take up to two days to finish counting mail-in ballots.

"We have a lot of verifications to make to make sure that people didn't vote twice, that the people who returned this ballot are actually the ones who applied for it. So there's all kinds of verifications that need to be done before we even open the envelope with the ballot inside," Grenier said.

The candidates in Windsor-Essex

Windsor West

• NDP: Brian Masse (incumbent).
• Liberal: Sandra Pupatello.
• Conservative: Anthony Orlando.
• People's Party of Canada: Matthew Giancola.
• Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada: Margaret Villamizar.

Windsor–Tecumseh 

• Liberal: Irek Kusmierczyk (incumbent).
• NDP: Cheryl Hardcastle.
• Conservative: Kathy Borrelli.
• People's Party of Canada: Victor Green.
• Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada: Laura Chesnik.
• Green Party: Henry Oulevey.

Essex

• Conservative: Chris Lewis (incumbent).
• NDP: Tracey Ramsey.
• Liberal: Audrey Festeryga.
• Green Party: Nancy Pancheshan.
• People's Party of Canada: Beth Charron-Rowberry.
• Christian Heritage Party of Canada: Jeremy Palko.
• Independent: Andrew George.

Chatham-Kent–Leamington

• Conservative: Dave Epp (incumbent).
• Liberal: Greg Hetherington.
• NDP: Dan Gelinas.
• Green Party: Mark Vercouteren.
• People's Party of Canada: Liz Vallee.